Nutrition supplement for animal and use thereof

ABSTRACT

The present invention belongs to a technical field of nutrition additives for animal, and specifically discloses a nutrition supplement for animal, comprising eggs of an edible insect. Further, the eggs of the edible insect are one or more of eggs of  Hermetia illucens  L., eggs of  Tenebrio molitor  and eggs of fly. The present invention finds that the eggs of edible insect provide better effects such as enhancing nutrition, promoting growth and health care for animals, especially for newborn animals, weaning animals, weak animals or sick animals. The nutrition supplement provided by the present invention can be prepared easily and used conveniently. The present invention using the eggs of edible insect as a main component of the nutrition supplement can not only improve a health level of animals including livestock, aquatic animals and the like, but also enhance a feed intake, a feed conversion level and a comprehensive benefit of cultivation with a good application prospect.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention belongs to a technical field of a nutritionadditive for animals, and more specifically relates to a nutritionsupplement for animals and use thereof.

BACKGROUND

With a high-speed development of animal husbandry, aquaculture and peteconomy, the industry pays more and more attention to nutrition andhealth of livestock, aquatic animals and pets, as well as their qualityof life and health, which promotes a development of efficient nutritionsupplement product, for example, development and application of proteinpowder, fat powder, high-energy nutrition paste and the like.

Common nutrition supplement for animals is made of protein, fat andnucleic acids which derive from animal, plant and microorganisms.Nowadays, protein and fat from an animal source generally used forpreparing nutrition supplement are mainly derived from milk protein,whey protein, plasma protein and viscera such as liver, intestinemembrane and the like. Protein and fat from a botanic source are mainlyderived from seeds or processed byproducts of oil plants such assoybean. A microorganism source mainly comprises yeast paste and algaepowder which are rich in protein, fat and nucleic acids and made byprocessing yeast powder and microalgae.

An edible insect protein will be a source of protein and fat of new typeanimal feed. In May 2013, Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations (FAO) published a report, Edible Insect, FutureExpectations of Food and Feed Safety, which strongly advocated thatevery country should develop edible insects as a source of new typeprotein and fat for human or animal consumption respectively in thefuture to reduce dependence on lands, forest deterioration and anemission of greenhouse gas. On the other hand, the insect protein isabundant in antibacterial peptide, and fat which has a highconcentration of lauric acid, and unknown growth factors. The insectprotein presents a positive influence on the growth and health of humanand farmed animals.

A dried insect larva comprises 40% or more of protein and rational aminoacids composition, which is suitable for cultivating poultry and aquaticanimals. There is a great variety of fatty acids in insect fat,including more than ten kinds of saturated fatty acids, unsaturatedfatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The saturated fatty acidscan be lauric acid, palmitic acid and the like, the unsaturated fattyacids can be oleic acid and the like and the polyunsaturated fatty acidscan be linoleic acid and the like.

Insect serving as a new type feed protein has been just started. Thecontent of insect protein in so called insect feed protein raw materialwhich was just launched to market at present is low and is mainlycompound with vegetable protein and conventional animal protein.Besides, the content of fatty acids is relatively low. Moreover, thenutrition supplement for newborn animals still consists of proteins andfat from conventional animal source and botanic source, which is unableto provide sufficient nutrition effectively for the newborn animals togrow fast.

In view of this, the present invention has developed the nutritionsupplement product with more abundant nutrition and higher efficiency tosolve the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide a new nutritionsupplement for animal according to deficiencies of prior art.

According to our research, it is found that nutrition of eggs of insectis more abundant. Compared with a larva, an imago or a pupa of insects,concentrations of protein, fat and unknown growth factors contained inthe eggs of insect are higher, with outstanding effects especially ongrowth and health care of a newborn animal as well as a weak animal andon rescue of a sick animal. These animals include newborn sucklingpiglets, weak piglets, cad pigs and the like, newborn poultry such aschicks and ducks, aquatic animals and pets.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide use of theabove nutrition supplement for animal.

The objectives of the present invention are realized by followingtechnical solutions:

A nutrition supplement for animal is provided in the present invention,comprising eggs of an edible insect.

Preferably, the eggs of the edible insect are one or more of eggs ofHermetia illucens L., eggs of Tenebrio molitor and eggs of fly.

Preferably, the nutrition supplement further comprises one or more of another animal source nutrient, a botanic source nutrient, a microorganismsource nutrient and a protective agent;

The other animal source nutrient is derived from one or more of cattlemilk, sheep milk, fish meal, fish tallow, yolk, animal muscle andextracts of viscus; the botanic source nutrient is selected from one ormore of substances consisting of soybean protein, soybean oil and cornsteep liquor; the microorganism source nutrient comprises one or two ofyeast extracts and microalgae extracts.

More preferably, the protective agent comprises one or more of skimmilk, trehalose, glycerol and antioxidant.

Preferably, in percentage by weight, the eggs of edible insect accountfor 50%-90%, the other animal source nutrient accounts for 0%-10%, thebotanic source nutrient accounts for 0%-10%, the microorganism sourcenutrient accounts for 0%-10% and the protective agent accounts for0.1%-20%.

When the nutrition supplement comprises the eggs of insect, other animalsource nutrient, botanic source nutrient, microorganism source nutrientand protective agent. Firstly, the eggs of edible insect are mixed withthe protective agent, grinded at low temperature and then dried to besmashed, followed by being added with other animal source nutrient,botanic source nutrient and microorganism source nutrient, and beingmixed evenly. Then they are dried to form a powder product with amoisture below 12%; or after being mixed evenly, they are prepared toform a paste product.

The present invention simultaneously claims use of above nutritionadditives in preparing nutrition additives of animal feed.

Preferably, the nutrition supplement is added into animal feed ordrinking water, or is artificially fed to the animal directly.

Preferably, the nutrition supplement is added into the animal feed ordrinking water according to a proportion of 0.01-0.5% (w/w), or isdirectly fed in 1 g-5 g for every day.

Preferably, the animals include newborn animals, weaning animals, weakanimals or sick animals.

Preferably, species of the animals include aquatic animals, livestock orpets.

Preferably, the aquatic animals include fish, shrimp, crab and the like.The livestock include pig, chicken, duck and the like. The pets includecat, dog, pet bird, reptile and the like.

In addition, the present invention simultaneously claims products inform of dry powder with low moisture or in form of paste with highmoisture prepared by the eggs of edible insect.

The present invention simultaneously claims use of the nutritionsupplement in preparing additives that control diarrhea of the newbornanimals.

The present invention simultaneously provides use of the nutritionsupplement in preparing additives that enhance a feed intake of animal.

The nutrition supplement of the present invention is used in a feedformula of newborn piglet of which an effect of weight gain is obviousand the feed intake is increased. Also, an occurrence of diarrhea thatusually occurs in the piglet is greatly reduced.

The nutrition supplement of the present invention is used in a feedformula of layers of which a laying rate is enhanced, a qualified rateof egg is enhanced and the feed intake is promoted.

The nutrition supplement of the present invention is used in a feedformula of aquatic feed (for example Lateolabrax japonicas). The feedintake is enhanced, the Lateolabrax japonicas likes eating and a feedefficiency is increased.

Compared to the prior art, the present invention has followingadvantages and beneficial effects:

The eggs of edible insect are directly used as the nutrition supplementin the present invention which is easy to be prepared and caneffectively enhance growth performance and health level of animalsincluding livestock, aquatic animals and pets. Besides, the nutritionsupplement provided by the present invention provides good controleffects on the diarrhea problems that usually occur in the newbornanimals. Meanwhile the nutrition supplement can obviously enhance thefeed intake and a feed utilization, reduce a feed-meat conversion ratioor a feed-egg conversion ratio and enhance an overall benefit ofcultivation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will be further described in combination withspecific embodiments which do not limit the present invention in anyway. Unless otherwise specified, reagents, methods and equipments usedin the present invention are conventional reagents, methods andequipments in the art.

Unless otherwise specified, the reagents and materials used in thepresent invention are commercially available.

Embodiment 1

Eggs of Hermetia illucens L. Used as a Raw Material of a NutritionAdditive

The eggs of Hermetia illucens L. were mixed with a protective agent,glycerol, followed by being grinded at low temperature. Then they werefreeze dried, smashed and dried until a moisture is below 12%.

Embodiment 2

Application Effect (Aimed at Newborn Piglets) General commerciallyavailable creep feed for piglet was mixed with 0.1% of a nutritionsupplement prepared in Embodiment 1; one-week-old tri-crossbreedingpiglets, as experimental animals, were fed for two weeks and comparedwith those fed with the general commercially available creep feedwithout adding the nutrition supplement. An experimental result is shownin Table 1:

TABLE 1 Effect of the nutrition additives on growth performance ofnewborn piglet feed conversion daily average feed ratio (feed diarrheaweight gain intake of intake/weight rate (g/d. each) each (kg/d) gain ofpiglet) (%) feed added with 266.7 0.291 1.09 1.33% 0.1% of the nutritionsupplement commercially 197.2 0.270 1.37 5.24% available creep feed

It can be seen in Table 1 that compared to those fed with general creepfeed, the weight gain and the feed intake of one-week-oldtri-crossbreeding piglets which were fed with the feed added with 0.1%of the nutrition supplement, are enhanced. Intestinal health isimproved. A disease incidence of diarrhea and the feed conversion ratioare decreased.

Embodiment 3

Application Effect (aimed at Lateolabrax japonicas)

The Lateolabrax japonicas was fed with general commercially availablefeed special for Lateolabrax japonicas which was mixed with 0.5% of thenutrition supplement prepared in Embodiment 1 for one month and comparedwith those fed with the general commercially available feed withoutadding the nutrition supplement. The experimental result is shown inTable 2:

TABLE 2 Effect of the nutrition additives on growth performance ofLateolabrax japonicas survival feed specific growth rate (%) efficiency(%) rate (%/d) feed added With 0.5% of the 98.13 0.94 0.93 nutritionsupplement commercially available feed 89.53 0.83 0.84

It can be seen from Table 2 that compared to those fed with generalfeed, the survival rate, the feed efficiency and the specific growthrate of Lateolabrax japonicas which was fed with the feed added with0.5% of the nutrition supplement, are enhanced.

Embodiment 4 Application Effect (Aimed at Layers)

The layers were fed with general commercially available feed special forlayers which was mixed with 0.05% of the nutrition supplement preparedin Embodiment 1 for one month and compared with those fed with thegeneral commercially available feed without adding the nutritionsupplement. The experimental result is shown in Table 3:

TABLE 3 Effect of the nutrition additives on growth performance oflayers laying rate feed intake of qualified (%) each (g) rate (%) feedadded with 0.05% of the 87.63 102.62 98.53 nutrition supplementcommercially available feed 80.36 91.51 96.62

It can be seen from Table 3 that compared to those fed with generalfeed, the laying rate, the feed intake of each and the qualified rate ofegg for layers which were fed with the feed added with 0.05% ofnutrition supplement, are enhanced with obvious effect.

Embodiment 5 Aimed at Newborn Piglets

A formula of the nutrition supplement is as follow: eggs of an edibleinsect accounting for 50%, bovine colostrum accounting for 10%, soybeanprotein accounting for 10%, yeast extracts accounting for 10% andglycerol accounting for 20%. 14-day-old tri-crossbreeding piglets werechosen to be fed with the general commercially available creep feed forpiglets which was mixed with 0.1% of the nutrition supplement preparedin Embodiment 5 for two weeks and compared with those fed with thegeneral commercially available feed without adding the nutritionsupplement. The experimental result is shown in Table 4:

TABLE 4 Effect of the nutrition additives on growth performance ofnewborn piglet Feed-meat conversion ratio everyday average feed (feedintake/ diarrhea weight gain intake of weight rate (g/d. each) each(kg/d) gain of piglet) (%) feed added 275.21 0.295 1.07 1.27% with 0.1%of the nutrition supplement commercially 202.19 0.253 1.25 3.14%available feed

It can be seen in Table 4 that compared to those fed with general feed,the weight gain and the feed intake of piglets which were fed with thenutrition supplement feed provided by the present invention, areenhanced. The intestinal health is improved. The disease incidence ofdiarrhea and the feed conversion ratio are decreased at the same time.

Embodiment 6 Aimed at Newborn Piglet

A formula of the nutrition supplement is as follow: the eggs of edibleinsect accounting for 70%, bovine colostrum accounting for 6%, soybeanprotein accounting for 6%, yeast extracts accounting for 6% and glycerolaccounting for 12%. The newborn piglets were fed with the generalcommercially available feed special for newborn piglets which was mixedwith 0.1% of the nutrition supplement prepared in Embodiment 6 for twoweeks and compared with those fed with the general commerciallyavailable feed without adding the nutrition supplement. The experimentalresult is shown in Table 5:

TABLE 5 Effect of the nutrition additives on growth performance ofnewborn piglet Feed-meat conversion average feed ratio daily intake(feed intake/ diarrhea weight gain of each weight rate (g/d. each)(kg/d) gain of piglet) (%) feed added with 291.21 0.326 1.12 2.27% 0.1%of nutrition supplement commercially 223.19 0.299 1.34 5.14% availablefeed

It can be seen in Table 5 that compared to those fed with general feed,the weight gain and the feed intake of piglets which were fed with thenutrition supplement feed provided by the present invention, areenhanced. The intestinal health is improved. The disease incidence ofdiarrhea and the feed conversion ratio are decreased at the same time.

Embodiment 7

The nutrition additives were used to replace a half dosage of fish mealand were added into the general feed which would be fed to the layers.The result is shown in Table 6:

TABLE 6 Comparison of effect of feeding the layers with a replaced fishmeal qualified average Feed-egg laying rate of egg weight of conversionrate (%) (%) egg (%) ratio replacing half dosage 86.19 98.74 57.91 2.51of fish meal fish meal control 78.31 94.27 54.31 3.22

It can be seen from Table 6, layers fed with the nutrition supplementprovided by the present invention are compared to those fed with thefish meal of layer feed. The laying rate increases by 7.88%, thequalified rate of egg increases by 4.47%, the average weight of eggincreases by 3.60% and the feed-egg conversion ratio decreases by 28%.

Embodiment 8 Newborn Chick of Yellow-Feathered Broiler

2000 g of eggs of Hermetia illucens L. were weighed and smashed under afreeze condition. Then 100 g of skim milk, 100 g of trehalose and 1 g ofBHT (antioxidant) were added thereto and mixed evenly. After beingfreeze dried for 24 hours, 900 g of insect egg powder was prepared withthe moisture of 11%. Then 100 g of chlorella dry powder was addedthereto, and 1000 g of the nutrition supplement was obtained for anexperiment of feeding the yellow-feathered broiler.

The newborn chicks of yellow-feathered broiler in 1-4 days old, asexperimental chicks, were fed separately according to their gender. Thenewborn chicks were fed with commercially available feed in a normalimmune. A product of the present invention was mixed evenly into thedrinking water of the chicks. 300 g of the product was fed to every tenthousand chicks every day and the feeding continued for 3 days. Thedrinking water for a control group was normal. The male yellow-featheredbroilers were slaughtered after 59 days and the female yellow-featheredbroiler were slaughtered after 70 days. The growth performance of twogroups was observed and the comprehensive benefits were analyzed. Theresults are shown in Table 7 and Table 8 respectively.

TABLE 7 Test result of the nutrition supplement for feeding the newbornchicks of male yellow-feathered broiler (slaughtered after 59 days) maleyellow- experimental improved feathered broiler unit group control groupconditions imported number one 6366 6527 exported number one 6226 6378exported rate % 97.8 97.7 +0.1% weight Kg 13641 13574 average weight Kg2.19 2.13 +0.06 kg consumption Kg 29751 30145 Feed-meat 2.18 2.22 −0.04conversion ratio

TABLE 8 Test result of the nutrition supplement for feeding the newbornchicks of female yellow-feathered broiler (slaughtered after 70 days)female yellow- feathered experimental improved broiler unit groupcontrol group conditions imported one 5541 5609 number exported one 54365460 number exported rate % 98.11 97.34 +0.76 weight Kg 11940 11479average weight Kg 2.20 2.10 +0.10 kg consumption Kg 26183 25610Feed-meat 2.19 2.23 −0.04 conversion ratio

In this experiment, the experimental chicks were continuously fed withthe nutrition supplement for 3 days which was mixed into the drinkingwater and their growth conditions were observed every week. Cultivationworkers generally reflected that the health of experimental group wasimproved obviously. Appearance of the chicks looked very healthy andtheir furs became shiny. It can be known from the data obtained in Table7 and Table 8 that the exported rate, the average weight and thefeed-meat conversion ratio are improved obviously. And the comprehensivebenefits are improved.

Comparative Embodiment 1

Experiment conditions are the same as Embodiment 2. Compared with othernutrition supplements of Embodiments 1-8, a formula is shown as follow:

bovine colostrum from animal source accounting for 60%, soybean proteinfrom botanic source accounting for 35%, yeast extracts frommicroorganism accounting for 10%. The effects are shown in Table 9:

TABLE 9 Using effects of nutrition supplement in Comparative Embodiment1 feed conversion daily average feed ratio weight intake (feed intake/diarrhea gain (g/d. of each weight gain rate each) (kg/d) of piglet) (%)feed added with 0.1% 235.6 0.285 1.21 3.33% of the nutrition supplementof Comparative Embodiment 1

Comparative Embodiment 2

A commercially available dried larva of Hermetia illucens L. was used asthe nutrition supplement. It was added in a weight percentage of 0.1%into the commercially available feed special for newborn piglets and fedto the newborn piglets for two weeks. The test results are shown inTable 10:

TABLE 10 Influence of the nutrition supplement of Comparative Embodiment2 on growth performances of newborn piglet Feed-meat conversion averagefeed ratio daily weight intake (feed intake/ diarrhea gain (g/d. of eachweight rate each) (kg/d) gain of piglet) (%) feed added with 232.7 0.2801.18 2.33% 0.1% of the nutrition supplement of Comparative Embodiment 2

It can be seen in Table 10 that using the nutrition supplement addedwith 0.1% of the dried larva of Hermetia illucens L. is compared withusing eggs of Hermetia illucens L. as the nutrition supplement inEmbodiment 2. The weight gain, the feed intake and a feed utilization ofthe latter are obviously improved, also the diarrhea rate is reduced.

Obviously, the above embodiments are only examples for clearlyspecifying the present invention but not for limiting theimplementations. For those skilled in the art, changes or variations indifferent forms based on above can still be made. It is unnecessary orunable to give all implementations here. And obvious changes orvariations extended hereby are still within the scope of the presentinvention.

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A nutrition supplement for animals, comprising:eggs of an edible insect.
 12. The nutrition supplement of claim 11,wherein the edible insect is Hermetia illucens L., Tenebrio molitor,fly, or any combinations thereof.
 13. The nutrition supplement of claim12, further comprising an other-animal source nutrient, a botanic sourcenutrient, a microorganism source nutrient, a protective agent, or anycombinations thereof.
 14. The nutrition supplement of claim 13, whereinthe other-animal source nutrient is derived from cattle milk, sheepmilk, fish meal, fish tallow, yolk, animal muscle, extracts of animalviscus, or any combinations thereof, the botanic source nutrient issoybean protein, soybean oil, corn steep liquor, orany combinationsthereof, and the microorganism source nutrient is yeast extracts,microalgae extracts, or any combinations thereof
 15. The nutritionsupplement of claim 13, wherein the protective agent is skim milk,trehalose, glycerol, antioxidant, or any combinations thereof
 16. Thenutrition supplement of claim 13, wherein a composition of the nutritionsupplement for animals comprises: 50-90 wt % of the eggs of the edibleinsect; 0-10 wt % of the other-animal source nutrient; 0-10 wt % of thebotanic source nutrient; 0-10 wt % of microorganism source nutrient; and0.1-20 wt % of protective agent.
 17. A preparation method of a nutritionsupplement for animals, comprising: mixing eggs of an edible insect witha protective agent form a mixture; grinding the mixture; drying and thensmashing the grinded mixture to form a dry powder mixture; and mixingthe dry powder mixture with an other-animal source nutrient, a botanicsource nutrient, a microorganism source nutrient, or any combinationsthereof to form a paste product.
 18. The preparation method of claim 17,further comprising: drying the final mixture until the water content isless than 12% to form a powder product.
 19. A method of preparing ananimal feed, comprising: adding 0.01-0.5 wt % of the nutritionsupplement of claim 15 to an animal feed to form a uniform mixture. 20.A method of feeding an animal, comprising: feeding an animal with ananimal feed or a drinking water comprising 0.01-0.5 wt % of thenutrition supplement of claim 15, or directly with the nutritionsupplement of claim
 15. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the animalis a newborn animal, a weaning animal, a weak animal, a sick animal, orany combinations thereof.
 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the animalis an aquatic animal, a livestock, or a pet.